Thorvin's Philosophy on Customer Service

If you Google 'Customer Relations' you get 1,600,000 responses. The amount of information available on the web consists of books, articles and various software packages that are almost unlimited. The following article is a description of what we have done over the years to address this very important area. Hopefully you will find our approach in our very niche market of some help.

Thorvin Electronics was formed in 1974. One of the first products that Thorvin distributed was Tandberg Educational Language Laboratories. We have labs installed from Vancouver Island in British Columbia, on the west coast, to St. Johns Newfoundland on the east coast of Canada. Most of the labs that are installed are in post secondary educational institutions, Colleges and Universities. There are some high schools that use labs, but many do not have the funding for such equipment.

If you were to ask me what contributed to our success we would have to say that it is a combination of excellent products and good customer relations. Hand in hand with these two factors one must have excellent product knowledge, a grasp of the market requirements, and an awareness of the features and shortcomings of our competition.

Selling Language Labs is no different than most other products. You define the needs of the customer, you show them how your product can meet those needs, point out the differences to the competition, and you give them the names of all of the customers that are using your product. We publish a full list of users on our web site, with names, addresses, and a contact person. The longer the list, the better the response. Many of our competitors do not give a full list of their installations. If you have done your job properly with your existing customers, and looked after their needs, requirements and their problems, there is a good chance that you will get the order.

You should never ignore any request from an existing customer. It may be a frivolous request or inquiry, but you must always respond. If there is a technical problem, never ignore it.

My philosophy is that a problem is only a problem if it can not be solved. Generally speaking we have never left any of our customers with an unsolved problem.

Because we are now so integrally involved in the computer world, we must learn to listen to the customers complaints, and see that they are well defined so that a solution is possible. Simply saying one position does not work is no longer sufficient. We now have to have a detailed account of the problem, the error messages and anything else that will make it easier to troubleshoot and find a resolution.

This is what makes selling Multimedia solutions into the Educational marketplace so different from other commodities. The responsibility to the client is paramount!

If you are not prepared to take on this responsibility and think that a sale is completed when the cheque arrives, then this is not the market you should be in.

Our reputation in the marketplace is such that very often we are paid for the order fully, before the lab is installed. Customers know from experience and from checking with our customers that we always look after their needs.

When we give a lab demo we give every participant of the session a business card with our 800 (toll free) line and tell them to contact us whenever they have a problem. Many of the teachers do call for assistance, and this makes you an integral part of the teaching function, and someone that they can rely on when help is needed.

It is the lack of communication that can totally destroy your relationship with your customers. Very often we will simply call a new customer to see how things are working out, and to offer any help that is required. We have considered instituting customer surveys to better understand and evaluate the customer's needs and their future requirements. This is a work in progress at this time.

We are not perfect and we know that on some occasions we have not followed these rules. When we don't, we pay for it. One bad comment from an unhappy customer can be enough to lose you an order. This marketplace is a small niche market. Bad news travels very fast in this milieu. The best sales force that we have is our customers. This holds true in any sales organization but in the educational market it is even more pronounced. Keeping customers happy will assure that you will receive free advertising whenever anyone is seeking a recommendation. These recommendations are invaluable.

There are two things that we consider most important in running a successful business. The first is the attitude of the company towards its customers. If one wants to be successful, then all of the employees must have a firm commitment to the customer. They are the most important commodity that we have and if we do not work hard to meet their needs and satisfy their wants, we will not succeed.

The second most important consideration in running a business is the employees, without them the company can not exist. They must be treated fairly but must also buy into the philosophy of customer care, so that we are all 'on the same page' in this respect.

Good customer care has another benefit; it actually is very satisfying from a personal standpoint when you know that you have been able to help someone. You must place this at the top of your list, and always aim for excellence. If you do, you will find that not only is your job more fulfilling but the results you obtain will surpass your expectations.

From the factories side they must follow the same formula as the reseller. Their emphasis should be on the Partner, and all of the staff should have the same attitude towards their customers as we have towards ours. The most important commodity once again is the customer, but in this instance it is the Partner.

One problem is the danger to ignore a partner’s complaint. The factory should also learn to listen to the partner’s requests and ideas for enhancements. In some instances there could be new avenues or new potential business that could be developed. The factory very often can not ‘look outside the box’. Just because we ‘don’t do that’, does not mean that we can not look at doing it.

Thorvin just started its 33rd year in business. The Customer Relations philosophy that is central to the Lab business is the same in the other areas that we cover. We firmly believe that this is the reason that we are still thriving in our 33rd year of operation.